Remembering Booth

“Booth made a personal connection with everyone he met — from children visiting the capital to the lawmakers he persuaded to always act for the greater good of Washington. … After his life of public service, Booth was open with us about his health. And he led us to a respectful discussion about the dignity of life and death.”

— Gov. Jay Inslee

“Booth was a leader of tremendous compassion, dignity and bravery whose service to our state will live on far into the future. He was generous in sharing his wisdom and his time, and I will never forget the lessons he taught me when I was just beginning my political career in Olympia many years ago.”

“Gov. Gardner was a progressive visionary ahead of his time. His leadership helped give us environmental and land-use laws that shaped the successful Washington of today. And he championed gay rights and basic health-care access for the poor long before they were popular. He also leaves a lasting legacy of nurturing a generation of leaders, including me.”

— Former Gov.

Chris Gregoire

“He will be remembered for his impish sense of humor and never-failing common touch. He will be remembered as the original turnaround expert for a then-troubled Pierce County government. He will be remembered as a governor who guided a historic amount of progress while never tooting his own horn.”

— U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, who served as chief of staff during Gov. Gardner’s second term

“Booth Gardner was a compassionate and thoughtful man. His strong values of fairness and equality led him in his decades-long work to improve our health-care and education systems. Washington state is a better place because of his leadership.”

— Seattle Mayor

Mike McGinn

“He was a politician with a personal touch. He also knew how to make everyone in a crowded room feel special. He touched the hearts of all Washingtonians when he told the son of a Western Washington University administrator at his parent’s funeral, ‘I lost my mom, too. I never got to say goodbye.’ ”

— Sen. Maria Cantwell

“Gov. Gardner was known as a man who could talk to anyone, because he treated everyone the same way — like a fellow human being. ”

— King County Executive

Dow Constantine

“Booth was a leading voice for the Parkinson’s community throughout the state and the entire country. … His legacy will endure through his work in establishing the Booth Gardner Parkinson’s Care Center.”

— Steve Wright, executive director, Northwest

Parkinson’s Foundation

“I was a freshman member of the minority party of the lower house and yet Booth Gardner knew my name. I had a handful of conversations with him. I was the least important person there, but he seemed genuinely interested in talking to me. You got the sense that he knew all 147 of us.”

— Former state Republican Party Chairman

Chris Vance, who was in the state House the last two years of Gardner’s

second term

“They say a person dies two deaths: the death of the body and a second when stories about him stop being told. It will be a very long time before we run out of stories about Gov. Booth.“